I looked through a pinhole in an antiquated roomwith an inverted umbra of an aged easterly spire,the mysterious upside-down shadow had me consumedin a tale of two warriors on horseback ready to build an empire.Strange as it may seem, a rabbit was the vanguardfollowed by the two warriors in the forest of wisdom.Navigating unfamiliar forest paths, they traveled in tandemaround tricky turns, with the faith of instinct at every yard.Each shrub and tree stood proudly rooted in the historicityof the place exhaling oxygen to enliven legends in every breath.The rabbit led the warriors towards a peak with high alacrityThe enraptured warriors heeded with bated breath.Now on top of the fabled monkey hill of Kishkindha,they were on a peak right across the winding Tungabhadra.The clouds appeared like the Lankan emperor on his vimanarocks echoed the jangles of Sita’s falling jewels – a trail for Rama.The rabbit began veering downhill restlessly southward,the warriors hurriedly followed, down went the wandering threeto the north of the river, they reached the shade of Shabari’s tree.On the other side, a myth came alive and had them seized.A mystical man descended from a northern summitdriven by his beloved’s gentle grace and untold power.She sprang from an ember of a fateful blazing fire of the pastin an unmatched longing to be one with the enigmatic ascetic.She chose to swirl and curl along the rocky outcropsmuch to the delight of southern thorn forests, each strawin the arid land sprang back to life just to eavesdropon the sweet nothings Shiva whispered to his consort, the damsel Pampa!As Pampa and Shiva became one after a lifetime of unfulfilled desire,The fabulous Hemakuta hill twinkled like gold, as it oversawthe sire with an oblique eye, turn in to an iconic classical spire,The gazing warriors in total awe cried, “Virupaksha, Virupaksha!”By-and-by, back to reality from the vision of the easterly spire,Harihara and Bukka steeped in the enigma of the realmlaid the foundation of the great Vijayanagara kingdom and took the helm.Alas, now merely rugged vestiges stand vigil to honor an era we can only admire.